Table of Contents

ABC News/Washington Post Poll #1, December 2007 (ICPSR 24593)

Principal Investigator(s):ABC News; The Washington Post

Summary:

This poll, fielded December 6-9, 2007, is a part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on various political and social issues. A national sample of 1,136 adults was surveyed, including an oversample of African Americans, for a total of 205 African Americans respondents. Respondents were asked whether they approved of George W. Bush and the way he was handling the presidency and other issues such as the economy and terrorism, whether they approved of the way Congress... (more info)

This poll, fielded December 6-9, 2007, is a part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on various political and social issues. A national sample of 1,136 adults was surveyed, including an oversample of African Americans, for a total of 205 African Americans respondents. Respondents were asked whether they approved of George W. Bush and the way he was handling the presidency and other issues such as the economy and terrorism, whether they approved of the way Congress was handling its job,
and which political party they trusted to handle issues such as the war in Iraq.
Opinions were also solicited on the 2008 presidential candidates. Respondents were asked who they would vote for if the 2008
Democratic and Republican primaries were being held that day, what was the
single most important issue in their choice for president in the 2008 presidential election,
and whether they were more likely to vote for a candidate based on qualities such as religion, race, gender, or political interests.
A series of questions asked how closely respondents were following the 2008 presidential race and how likely they were to vote in the 2008
presidential primary in their state, which candidate they thought was most likely to be elected president, and how much candidates' religious
beliefs, endorsements, spouses, and professional abilities weighed in deciding who to support for president.
Respondents were also asked whether Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama made them more likely to support him.
Several questions asked about the war in Iraq, including whether the Iraq War was worth fighting, whether United States
military forces should remain in Iraq until civil order is restored there, and whether the war in Iraq has contributed to the
long-term security of the United States.
Additional topics included abortion, whether the respondents considered themselves feminists, whether respondents had a good, basic
understanding of the Mormon religion, respondents' own financial situation, and the state of the national economy.
Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income,
religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, marital status, whether respondents own or rent their home,
type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), voter registration status, political party affiliation,
political philosophy, and the presence of children under 18 in the household.

Methodology

Sample:
Households were selected by random-digit dialing. Within households, the respondent selected was the adult living in the household who last had a birthday and who was home at the time of the interview. African American respondents were oversampled.

Weight:
The data contain a weight variable (WEIGHT) that should be used in analyzing the data. The weights were derived using demographic information
from the Census to adjust for sampling and nonsampling deviations from population values. Respondents customarily were classified into one of
48 cells based on age, race, sex, and education. Weights were assigned so the proportion in each of these 48 cells matched the actual population
proportion according to the Census Bureau's most recent Current Population Survey. The oversample of African Americans was weighted back to their correct share of the national population.

Mode of Data Collection:
computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: